Maternal Instincts
by nancy fan
Summary: Nancy and Ned bring home their newborn baby from the hospital. Possible future fic for The Awakening.


Though it was barely March and wind and rain had battered Chicago for days, the weather was wonderfully warm and sunny as Nancy stepped carefully out of the car, their newborn baby cradled lovingly in her arms. A testament to the hours Hannah had invested in the garden, the neatly tended flowerbeds were bursting with daffodils and crocuses and Nancy was already imagining sunny days spent outside with Rebecca splashing about in the paddling pool and the baby asleep under the shade of the blossoming apple tree. Pressing Ava protectively against the soft wool of her sweater, Nancy was overwhelmed by a sudden burst of love at the slight weight of the baby in her arms.

A week overdue, exhausted and swollen, Nancy had frustratedly wondered if she was ever going to give birth but now, seeing their baby sleep blissfully in her arms, she knew the long nine months of exhaustion and the accompanying torture of labour had been worth it. She was beautiful with her still blue eyes and shock of dark hair, which Rebecca delightedly declared was the same as hers. Ned couldn't keep his eyes off her and even now, as Nancy glanced at her husband, his arms loaded with Nancy's suitcase and the baby bag and other baby essentials, his gaze was focused solely on his newborn daughter as he grappled with the lock before shouldering the front door open.

"Look, Ava, this is your new home," Nancy cooed softly at her daughter, pressing her lips to the soft skin of her forehead as she smiled at the carefully colored drawings Rebecca had evidently pinned to the wall to welcome her new sister.

Relinquished of his load, the suitcase and bags left hastily in the kitchen, Ned came over to her, arms outstretched, gazing at his daughter enthralled as he demanded possession of his daughter. "She's so beautiful, Nan," he smiled as he gently cradled her in his arms and rocked her softly.

"She's perfect," Nancy agreed adoringly, running a fingertip in complete fascination along her daughter's tiny clenched fist, suppressing an almost irresistible urge to reach out and wake baby Ava just to see her open her beautiful blue eyes.

Choosing a name for the baby had been excruciating. They had bought the obligatory book of baby names and spent hours poring over the pages and debating the merits of one name over another. Rebecca had helpfully suggested Jade, wanting desperately to name the baby after her favorite Bratz doll, the prospect that the baby could be a boy not even crossing the girl's mind. Bess's contributions of Ruby and Poppy were outrageous and were clearly influenced by her obsession with celebrity magazines. George declared that she didn't care what they called the baby as long as they steered clear of any advice from Bess. Hannah had advised her not to worry and that Nancy and Ned would know the perfect name for their baby the second they held him or her in their arms, and she was right. Ava seemed like a fitting name for their beautiful daughter who had protested angrily when she had been pulled from the warm cocoon of her mother's womb, screaming red-faced until she was placed against the warmth of Nancy's chest, her cries gradually subsiding as she listened to the soft coos of her parents.

"I can't believe she's slept for so long," Ned whispered dotingly, shifting Ava's weight in his arms as he settled back into the sofa, patting the seat beside him for Nancy to come and join them. "I don't think I got a full night's sleep for months after Rebecca was born."

"I can," Nancy smiled darkly, smothering a yawn with her hand as she burrowed contently into Ned's chest. "Your daughter spent most of last night screaming the hospital down and no matter how many times I rocked her or sang to her, she wouldn't settle down. I think she finally cried herself to sleep," Nancy finished wearily, resting her head on her husband's shoulder and enjoying the peaceful quiet of their home, which the hospital with the constant stream of visitors and doctor's rounds failed to provide.

It being her first baby, Nancy had been initially awkward while dealing with her daughter, uncomfortably conscious of the fact she wasn't supporting the baby's head properly or couldn't get her to feed. Ned, in contrast, was fantastic, his previous experience with Rebecca leaving him a virtual expert. He handled his baby daughter like a pro, hushing her anguished cries with a softly sung song and expertly rocking her to sleep. His easy confidence both reassured Nancy and made her feel slightly envious that she wasn't as natural a parent.

"Maybe we should put her in the nursery," Nancy declared worriedly, clinging possessively to the proven methods of parenting she had gleaned from the small tower of baby books she had amassed during the months of pregnancy. "You know, starting as we mean to go on, like that chapter in the baby book says."

"Nancy, we just got home," Ned began to argue, before changing his mind and stopping, remembering. He and Caroline had been the same when they had first brought Rebecca home, uncertain and desperate for reassurance that what they were doing was right and they weren't making a huge fuck-up of the whole parenting business.

The nursery was like a fairytale. Painted butterflies danced over purple-and-pink flowers and a magnificent rainbow spanned the cloud smeared sky. The crib with its painted, smiling fairies stood beside the window, having once belonged to Rebecca, who had personally named each fairy and was already determined to pass on that knowledge to her new baby sister.

Cuddling his daughter close for a second, Ned carefully passed Ava to Nancy, who eagerly accepted the warm bundle into her arms. Pulling down the pink woolen blanket, Ned gestured wordlessly for Nancy to lay Ava in her crib while Nancy placed her gently down, deliberating for a moment before pulling the blanket up under her chin.

"Maybe she'll get too hot," Nancy fretted uncertainly, hovering over her sleeping daughter and pulling the pale-pink blanket down a fraction. In the course of her work as an FBI agent, Nancy had dealt with knife-wielding serial killers and crazed maniacs, but at that moment the simple act of putting her daughter down for sleep seemed infinitely more daunting. "What do you think?" she asked Ned, turning to her husband, her indecisiveness written all over her face.

"I think you should relax, Nan, seriously," he insisted, taking his wife's hand and guiding her towards the door. "The baby will be fine."

"But what if she gets too hot," Nancy argued as she lingered hesitantly at the door, watchful of her small sleeping baby, who lay sprawled on her back in contented bliss, her tiny clenched fists resting lazily by her side.

"Then she'll kick the blanket off," Ned countered firmly, his voice a hushed whisper as he carefully pulled back the nursery door until it was opened just a crack. "Nancy, if Ava wakes up, she'll cry and we'll hear her, okay? That's what the baby monitors are for."

"Okay," Nancy nodded in reply, still a little uncertain, but she followed Ned down the stairs nonetheless. Rebecca would be back from school in little over an hour and Nancy was determined to take advantage of the relative peace and quiet of the house and catch up with some sleep before the little girl's return. Nancy was certain that when Rebecca thundered in the door at three o' clock, the house would be anything but.

--

Rebecca's school uniform was unusually clean and tidy for the time of day, not bearing the trademarks smears of yogurt and daubs of paint that normally characterized her pinafore and shirt when she skipped in the door in the afternoon. She was taking her duties as big sister very seriously. Her schoolbag still strapped to her back, her eyes were alight as she raced into the living room and hopped onto the sofa beside Nancy and Ned.

"Where is baby Ava?" she demanded excitedly before clapping a hand over her mouth, evidently remembering the talk her father had given her on the importance of being quiet while the baby was sleeping. "Can I see her?" she pleaded in a quieter tone and Nancy couldn't help but smile seeing her childish, not-always-successful efforts at keeping her noise level under control.

"Of course you can," Ned smiled, taking his daughter's hand and helping her down off the sofa. "But Ava is sleeping so you'll have to be quiet," he instructed Rebecca gently, the little girl nodding her understanding so emphatically he had to struggle to keep himself from breaking into laughter.

"Like in the hospital," she declared solemnly and Ned smiled at his daughter in agreement.

"Just like in the hospital," he echoed with mock sincerity as he winked conspiringly at Nancy. "Remember that and you'll be the best big sister ever."

Her fingers curled around the narrow spindles of the crib, Rebecca's brown eyes were wide as saucers as she gazed in amazement at her sleeping sister. By the way her fingers curled and uncurled, Nancy could tell she was aching to reach out and touch the baby.

"Can I pick her up, Daddy, please?" Rebecca pleaded, her voice barely a whisper as she snaked a hand through the bars of the fairy-adorned crib and rested it gently on Ava's plump cheek.

"Maybe later," Ned replied uncertainly, unwilling to disturb Ava when she seemed so peaceful, the blanket discarded in a crumpled tangle at the bottom of her crib.

As if on cue, Ava sleepily opened a bright blue eye, her clenched fists flailing drowsily as she slowly roused herself to consciousness.

"Look, Nancy and Daddy! Ava's awake," Rebecca squealed happily, balancing on her tiptoes as she peered excitedly into the crib. Nancy wasn't quite so excited. Ava's scrunched-up angry red face signaled the start of a tirade of earsplitting shrieks that her daughter had already become infamous for.

Scooping her daughter up into her arms, Nancy pressed the baby to her chest and murmured soothingly, gratified when Ava seemed to relax at her touch and her outraged cries gradually softened to more subdued sobs.

"Do you want to hold your baby sister?" Nancy asked, shifting Ava's weight in her arms as she knelt down carefully beside Rebecca.

"Yes, please," she bubbled, practically brimming with excitement, as Nancy transferred the baby into her eagerly waiting outstretched arms.

"Remember to put your hand under her head," Ned reminded Rebecca watchfully, the instruction completely unnecessary as the little girl had already her hand cupped expertly around the soft waves of hair that enveloped Ava's head.

"I know, Daddy," Rebecca pouted, the look of abject indignation on her face at the accusation that she was failing in her sisterly duties. "Look, she likes me," Rebecca declared delightedly, as Ava relaxed contentedly in her sister's embrace, her blue eyes locked with Rebecca's much darker brown ones.

"She must know you're her big sister," Ned stated with mock seriousness as Rebecca nodded her head in agreement.

"I can't wait to tell everyone at school tomorrow that I have a new baby sister," she babbled happily, her face aglow with excitement as she imagined announcing the news to her classmates. "Jack's mom got him a new puppy but this is so much better."

--

Sitting rigidly on the sofa, Nancy wrestled with the notion of checking on her now mercifully sleeping daughter, Ned having spent over an hour pacing the nursery with Ava in his arms in a desperate attempt to get her to settle. She knew she was being ridiculous, that Ava was fine, but Nancy convinced herself that one tiny peek around the door would be enough to reassure her that her daughter was okay.

"Don't even think about it," Ned warned his wife, knowing instantly her intentions the second he walked in the door. "I swear our daughter has some kind of spider sense. It took me twenty minutes just to get out of the room, after I swore she'd fallen asleep."

Running her fingers distractedly through her reddish-blonde hair, Nancy forced herself to relax. "I suppose you're right," she relented, flashing a halfhearted smile for her husband, though her eyes still strayed towards the door.

"Rebecca wanted to read Ava a story to help me get her to sleep," Ned commented jokingly, determined to lighten the mood.

"She did?" Nancy replied, though she wasn't surprised. Rebecca was very proud of her rapidly developing reading skills and took every opportunity possible to show them off, ragged copies of her favorite storybooks stored permanently in the pink Barbie backpack.

"She did," Ned confirmed with a weary grin. "It took everything I had to try to convince her that Ava was too small just yet to be interested in it."

"And did Rebecca buy it?" Nancy asked, the first real smile finally crossing her face as she imagined the comical situation between Ned and his daughter.

"No," Ned replied, laughing as he shook his head ruefully. "Poor baby was subjected to the entirety of 'The Hungry Caterpillar.' Twice. I'm sure that's what finally set her to sleep."

"You're horrible," Nancy countered teasingly, a twinkle glinting in her eye as she playfully swatted Ned's arm. Though the urge to check on Ava still niggled at Nancy, she squashed it immediately, determined to enjoy what she suspected would be a rare moment of peace in the coming weeks. Ava would be screaming to be fed in another hour and Rebecca could be down the stairs at any given moment, her sheepish grin demanding milk and cookies and if she was really pushing it, another story. But for now, any time they could snatch together was precious time indeed.

Snaking her head under Ned's arm, Nancy rested her head gratefully against his shoulder, smiling as he leaned in to kiss her gently on the lips. "Love you," she sighed dreamily, her eyes threatening to close as the exhaustion finally caught up with her.

"Love you, too," Ned smiled, his arms tightening around her in response. "How about we get Bess to babysit at the weekend and go for dinner? Just the two of us," he suggested softly, turning curiously to face his wife when she didn't reply. "Nancy," he tried again but to no avail, his wife already fast asleep, her head slumped wearily against his chest as she slumbered contentedly.


End file.
